Graham Dwyer is expected to decide on his appeal against his conviction for the murder of Elaine O’Hara next month.
The matter is due to be ruled today in the Court of Appeal, reports RTE.
Dwyer’s appeal against his 2015 conviction for Ms O’Hara’s murder was heard over two days last December. This followed his successful challenge to a law used to store and access his cell phone data.
He was found guilty by a jury of murder after a trial containing evidence described by the Chief Justice as “truly shocking”, reports RTE.
On appeal, Dwyer’s lawyers argued that a verdict of not guilty at his trial should have been directed as the possibility that Ms O’Hara had taken her own life could not be ruled out.
Cell phone data linking his work phone to other phones and text messages formed a significant part of the evidence against him.
The law allowing the storage and retrieval of this data was found to be in breach of EU law and Dwyer’s lawyers told the Court of Appeal they wanted a new trial to verify the admissibility of this evidence.
Dwyer’s lawyers also argued that the explicit video clips, some of which feature Dwyer and Ms. O’Hara, should not have been shown to the jury.
They made an allegation that during the hearing the trial judge shook his head and stared at Dwyer, reports RTE.
Prosecuting lawyers told the court it was a completely damning case to show that Dwyer was the author of the offensive texts on Ms O’Hara even without call data records.
They said the Gardaí used old-fashioned detective work to read text messages.
There were printouts of Dwyer’s phone bill from his workplace as well as messages on Ms O’Hara’s phone and backups on her laptop.
They said that Dwyer was exaggerating the data value of the calls.
They also added that it is completely impossible that there is another person in the world who shares the same details regarding children, work, important dates and hobbies.
They told the court that explicit video of Dwyer had to be shown because the defence argued that his messages about murdering and raping women were so outrageous that they must have been a fiction.
They also said the jury had material before them that allowed them to weigh and consider whether Ms O’Hara had taken her own life.
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